The invention relates to an electronic enclosure for housing insulating cards, each card having a printed circuit and electronic components arranged on one of the faces of the card.
Electronic components cannot withstand high temperatures, for example in excess of 150.degree. C., and these temperatures are quickly reached if the heat generated by the components is not removed. The problem of cooling the components is amplified by the fact that a large number of components are assembled on printed circuit cards made of insulating material, and by grouping of these cards together in enclosures which are often tightly sealed and located in poorly ventilated locations. The usual solution is cooling the enclosure or the cards directly by convection by creating forced circulation of air or of a heat removal liquid. These systems require a fan or a pump which is unreliable and which may leak, as well as present other problems.
Another state-of-the-art card cooling system makes use of a heat sink incorporated in the card. This heat sink in the form of a metal plate gives rise to serious problems of electrical insulation, and of good thermal connections with the casings of the components to be cooled. A system of this kind is complicated and not very efficient.
The object of the present invention is to achieve an enclosure and/or card equipped with a particularly simple and efficient solid-state cooling device.